HC Deb 17 March 1969 vol 780 c21
25. Mr. Luard

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had on the proposals of the United Nations Secretary-General for a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain.

Mr. Goronwy Roberts

My right hon. Friend discussed this with U Thant on 1st February. We believe that U Thant's proposal deserves sympathetic and constructive attention. However, the desirability and timing of such a meeting may well depend on progress in the projected discussions on the Middle East between the representatives to the United Nations of the Four Powers.

Mr. Luard

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that there would be great advantage not only in having a meeting of this kind simply to carry forward discussions on the Middle East but in having a regular series of consultations between Foreign Ministers of the kind that used to take place in the years immediately after the war?

Mr. Roberts

This, I believe, is what U Thant had in mind, and in his discussions with my right hon. Friend the possibility of such a series of meetings was discussed.